A Raisin in the Sun

Introduction and comments following A Raisin In The Sun, 1961, with TCMs Ben Mankiewicz and Guest Programmer U.S.A.F. veteran Lynelle White.

Robert Osborne introduces A Raisin In The Sun, 1961.

We’ve just met Claudia McNeil, in the role she played on Broadway, as mother Lena, conferring with her daughter-in-law Ruth (Ruby Dee), returning to her Chicago apartment, discussing her grandson, her son, and the $10,000 insurance check she’s expecting following her husband’s death, in A Raisin In The Sun, 1961.

Opening, Daniel Petrie directing from Lorraine Hansberry’s screenplay based on her New York Drama Critics’ Circle Best-Play winner, Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee as Walter and Ruth, in their Broadway roles, Stephen Perry their son Travis, in A Raisin In The Sun, 1961, also starring Claudia McNeil and Diana Sands.

Having committed to invest in a liquor store, frustrated Chicago chauffeur Walter (Sidney Poitier) returns home, interested only in the insurance check his mother (Claudia McNeil) just received for his father’s death, unaware that his wife (Ruby Dee) is pregnant, and has visited an abortionist, in A Raisin In The Sun, 1961.

Scrapping with neighbors over the bathroom, Diana Sands is introduced as Beneatha, sister of frustrated Walter (Sidney Poitier), who’s been fighting with his wife Ruth (Ruby Dee) about the insurance check their mother is about to receive after their father’s death, in playwright Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin In The Sun, 1961.

Producer David Susskind, never reluctant to appear on camera, promotes Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee in his production of the award-winning play A Raisin in the Sun, 1961.